Dublin man rearrested in drugs inquiry

A 20-year-old Dublin man arrested last year on drug-trafficking charges was re-arrested on Monday evening.

A 20-year-old Dublin man arrested last year on drug-trafficking charges was re-arrested on Monday evening.

The man, who is suspected by gardai of ordering the murder of a Dublin woman, Ms Sinead Kelly, was arrested in south Dublin and questioned about drug offences.

Ms Kelly (21) was stabbed to death in June while working as a prostitute on the banks of the Grand Canal in south Dublin. Two men are believed to have attacked her on the orders of a third, to whom she owed about £1,000.

Ms Kelly was a heroin addict who was working as a prostitute and dealing in heroin to feed her habit.

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The man re-arrested on Monday, who was living in a luxury house in Meath, has had his income investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau. The house was raided when he was first arrested in July.

Originally from south Dublin, the man is believed to have produced a certificate of earnings made out by a family member to account for his wealth.

A file on the murder is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions after almost seven months of investigation. A number of prostitutes who work the canal area have been interviewed about the circumstances surrounding the murder.

The murder weapon, a long-bladed knife, has never been found despite a trawl of the canal and a search of its banks. A bag Ms Kelly was carrying is also missing.

She came from a respectable background in north Dublin and had been living in various Dublin Corporation flats in the city since becoming a heroin addict.

A caller to RTE on the morning Ms Kelly's body was found knew her name before she had been identified by gardai. The man phoned a second time, and gardai believed at the time he knew who had killed her.

The initial stage of the murder investigation was based on tracing anybody who had phoned the RTE press office that morning, using telephone records from the station. A number of business people were interviewed by gardai in Pearse Street.

Gardai believe one of Ms Kelly's assailants fled to England after the murder. Another man, a drug addict from south Dublin, was arrested and questioned at the same time as the man suspected of ordering the murder.

The 20-year-old suspected drug dealer was expected to be released last night, and a file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the alleged drug-trafficking.

Catherine Cleary

Catherine Cleary

Catherine Cleary, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a founder of Pocket Forests